1880 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
231 
don’t put it high up ; it is natural for them to eat 
■with their heads down I think it is better that the 
family cow should have a calf every year, provided 
you can have them come early in the spring or late 
in the autumn. As to the time that a cow should 
foe dry, that depends much upon the way the cow 
was brought up. If she was allowed to go dry 
■early in the season with her first calf, she will al¬ 
ways do it. A cow being a very conservative ani¬ 
mal, she should be milked as long as her milk is 
good. When she is dry stop feeding the provender, 
bran, and oil cake, give her plenty of good hay. 
with some roots, until after she calves. The prov¬ 
ender and oil cake being strong food, are apt to 
produce inflammation and other troubles at calving 
■time. You can feed turnips when she is dry, at 
"the rate of two pails a day, cut up fine of course, 
but don’t feed turnips when she is milking. I have 
tried every way to destroy the flavor of turnips in 
milk, but without success. I have boiled it, put 
soda in it, fed the cow after milking, but it was all 
the same—turnip flavor unmistakable—and as we 
■don’t like our butter so flavored, I only feed turnips 
when the cow is dry. 
The Rev. E. P. Roe in his delightful book called 
“Play and Profit in My Garden,” says: “If a 
family, in ordinary good circumstances, kept a 
separate account of the fruit and vegetables bought 
and used during the year, they would, doubtless, 
be surprised at the sum total. But if they could 
see the amount they could and would consume if 
they didn’t have to buy, surprise would be a very 
mild way of putting it.” The same rule applies to 
the keeping of a cow. We buy one quart of milk a 
day and manage to get along with it. Our cow 
gives us from 10 to 20 quarts a day, and we make 
way with the greater part of it. I think with a cow 
•and a garden one may manage to live, but life with¬ 
out either, according to my ways of thinking, would 
be shorn of many of its pleasures “ Buttercup. ” 
■ (Mrs. G. Bournot, House of Commons P. 0., 
Ottawa , Canada.) 
The U. S. Signal Service and Farmers, 
The benefits of the United States Signal Service 
in the weather indications furnished at the various 
ports have been of untold value to commerce ; in¬ 
deed, it can never be known how great has been 
the saving of life and property due to an observ¬ 
ance of the “ Danger Signals,” set at its stations. 
In a measure the usefulness of the Service is to be 
extended to Agriculture, and arrangements are be¬ 
ing made so that farmers living beyond the reach 
of the daily weather reports may of themselves, by 
a little careful observation, make forecasts of the 
weather much more accurately than they could 
without the aid funiished by the Signal Service. 
The Weather Case, an engraving of which we 
are enabled to give through the courtesy of 
Gen’l Myer, the efficient chief of the Service (and 
known to so many by the familiar, but not disre¬ 
spectful title of “Old Prob.”), is made upon 
the principle that no single instrument is of 
much value as a weather indicator. Barometers 
have greatly fallen in public esteem because the 
makers foolishly mark on them “fair,” “rain,” 
etc., it not being possible for the instrument to 
give any such positive indications. A reading of 
the barometer with the wind in one direction, may 
indicate very differently from what it would with 
the wind in an opposite point. It is only when the 
tendency of the barometer is taken with the direc¬ 
tion of the wind, and to these observations are 
added those of the Dry and Wet-bulb thermome¬ 
ters, and the character of the sky at sunset, that a 
tolerably accurate forecast can be made of the 
weather for the next day. Our object is merely to 
describe the instrument—or rather set of instru¬ 
ments, the whole being called “ The Weather Case, 
■ or Farmers’ Weather Indicator.” As each ease is 
accompanied with full and minute descriptions, with 
directions for making observations and deciding 
from these what are the “ indications,” we need 
only describe the different parts in general terms. 
At the upper part of the case is the Barometer, the 
■ circle with a graduated one within it 'and a long 
and short pointer. The Barometer with which our 
readers are most familiar is the Mercurial, a long 
tube containing mercury. In the Case a form of 
barometer called the Aneroid (a made up word mean¬ 
ing not wet , as it contains no liquid) is used—only the 
dial is shown—; it is a circular box of thin metal and 
partly exhausted of air. As the details would not 
be understood without an engraving, suffice it to 
say that this box is so arranged that its thin sides 
will change position with the pressure of the atmos¬ 
phere ; they will be pressed 
towards one another when 
the air is heavy, and move 
apart when it is lighter. This 
motion is communicated 
to the short hand seen 
upon the dial, upon which 
are degrees corresponding 
to the inches of a mer¬ 
curial barometer. It is the 
short hand or pointer which 
is moved by the barometer; 
the long pointer is moved 
by hand to be directly over 
it, and to allow any changes 
made by the shorter one to 
be noticed. It also points 
to a graduated arc above, 
which we need not describe 
any further than to say that 
all above the circular dial 
is a contrivance for showing 
the mean barometer reading 
of the place for the month, 
and that its use is fully 
described in the circular. 
At the right and left of the 
barometer scale are disks for 
recording the length of time 
the wind has been in a par¬ 
ticular direction. Next be¬ 
low on the left is the Wind 
Disk, to be set three times a 
day to show the direction of 
the wind. Opposite this is 
the Sunset Disk. A semi¬ 
circular opening has behind 
it a disk, half of which is 
red and the other half blue. 
If the sunset was a fair 
weather one, the disk is to be 
turned to show its red half ; 
if xoul, its blue half, or if 
doubtful, then parts of both 
colors are shown. Below are 
the Thermometers. That at 
the left is an ordinary ther¬ 
mometer; the one at the 
right is just like it, except 
that its bulb is covered with 
cotton wicking, which is 
kept wet by having its lower 
end in a fountain arranged 
to hold a supply of water. 
The Wet>bulb thermometer 
shows whether the atmos¬ 
phere is moist or dry, and 
is a most important aid in 
weather observations. Every 
one knows that clothes 
will dry more rapidly in a 
dry air than in a moist one ; 
if the finger be wetted, and 
held in a dry current of air, a 
sensation of coolness will be 
felt. The Wet-bulb thermometer acts upon these 
two principles, that evaporation produces cold, and 
that evaporation is more rapid in a dry air than in 
a moist one. As water evaporates from the bulb of 
one thermometer, that will be cooled, and its read¬ 
ing be lower than that of the other thermometer 
just like it. Between the two thermometers are ar¬ 
rangements for showing how far apart the two 
thermometers are at any given time. In dry weather 
they will be farthest apart; if the two readings are 
coming nearer together, the air is growing more 
moist—one of the indications of a change. By a 
careful study, according to the directions given, of 
the changes that occur from day to day, an ob¬ 
servant person may soon learn to foretell the 
weather with a useful degree of accuracy and cer¬ 
tainty. The real Case is 31 inches high, 131 inches 
wide, and about 41 inches thick. The front is 
covered by a glass door, which is kept closed ex¬ 
cept when making observations and adjusting 
the different instruments ; it resembles a clock. 
The whole thing being quite new, we are not able 
at this time to state how and where the cases are 
to be distributed. In a general way we understand 
they are to go to those agricultural centers at a 
distance from large towns where the regular 
weather report is received daily, or twice a day, and 
where they will be of use in foretelling the weather 
for that locality. It is probable that we may be 
able to give something more definite next month. 
A Hogshead Sheep Hack. 
Mr. D. E. Manter, Kennebec Co., Maine, finds that 
a very convenient rack for a few sheep can be 
made in the following manner: An ordinary mo¬ 
lasses hogshead is taken, and one of its heads re- 
Indications 
\ 
Ihir Weather 
Sunset - fair 
Wind-mdry direction 
\ ''rherm.melers-separntmq 
i fry and wetbulb markers 
j vdien adjected moving 
fartherand farther apart. 
Barometer — rising 
Printer mo vinq toward m 
Right orfignBaromeier 
I _ . 
Fold Weather 
Sunset - foul. 
Wind-in rcdn direction 
Thernvmeters-approachmg 
fry an dv/ctbuib markers 
when adjusted moving 
towards each other 
Barometer—Idling 
Bnntermoves towards the 
left or low Bammeter 
JMe-Torram. direction 
ordrydiredionufwinds 
SeeFarmerklkdhrtui. 
13 DryBulbSetycsardtry- yttBuUi _ ]4 
Jhdiccriiona 
of 
Doubtful orUhsettlecL 
Weather 
Sunset — doiibtjul 
Neither fatnorfovL 
Wind—variable. 
Not steady in either 
rain or dry direction 
Thermometers oscillating > 
Markers appnmch&separate: 
Bammeter- about mean 
In the season of \ 
Frost or Cold Weather ■ 
Sly - Clear 
mtbin. dry direction 
Themometersfar apart 
Barometer— rising ' 
indicate 
Frost nr ColdNitjhV 
Plant 
Widrfallinq Barometer 
and wtndinraindu'ectim 
Harvest 
With rising Barometer 
anirntd in dry direction, 
THE WEATHER CASE, OR FARMER’S WEATHER INDICATOR. 
